A RARE winning start to a Test series hadn’t stopped the questions mounting up for England captain Joe Root.

Can Jos Buttler still be trusted as wicket-keeper?

How much has 38-year-old seamer Jimmy Anderson got left in the tank?

How best to utilise paceman Jofra Archer?

And, maybe most significant of all, how did he go about replacing Ben Stokes?

The second Test against Pakistan starts in Southampton on Thursday, with England having won a Test opener for the first time in six.

Another victory will clinch a first Test series against Pakistan in 10 years and a second series of this pandemic-affected summer, having already beaten the West Indies.

Despite his struggles behind the stumps, Buttler was confirmed in the second Test squad today.

What was never in doubt was that Stokes — the world’s finest all-rounder and frequently England’s saviour — would be missing, as he has returned to New Zealand for family reasons.

The speculation was that a more specialist batsman, such as Zak Crawley, would be added to the lineup.

But it was uncapped Sussex seamer Ollie Robinson who was included in the latest 14-man squad.

The 26-year-old had been training with the team during the West Indies series and took eight Hampshire wickets in his subsequent appearance in the Bob Willis Trophy.

Whether or not Robinson comes into contention for a first international appearance could depend on how the remainder of England’s seam attack shapes up after a congested summer of Test cricket.

Anderson had acknowledged that his radar was off at Old Trafford — taking only one wicket in two innings — and was at risk of being left out. But, in the squad, England will instead assess his fitness along with that of Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes, both on fine form but with three Test appearances in less than four weeks under their belts, as well as that of Archer and Mark Wood before deciding on the make-up of their attack.

Archer has been deployed to open the bowling and as first change this summer, but Root gave the rising star only five overs in the second innings of the first test. England seem increasingly unsure of how to get the best out of Archer, who has been overshadowed by Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, Pakistan have opted for an additional leg spinner in all-rounder Shadab Khan, who was utilised for only 11.3 overs in the two innings, but he could be replaced by Faheem Ashraf, a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler.

Azhar Ali will be under scrutiny both for his captaincy and his batting after underwhelming with both in the first Test.

He was possibly too cautious while defending a sizeable target of 277 runs on a wearing pitch, with Pakistan letting the game slip away despite reducing England to 117-5 on the fourth day. Front-line leg-spinner Yasir Shah was held back nearly 40 minutes after tea; before that, Pakistan could have easily batted England out of the game after getting a 107-run lead in the first innings.

Meanwhile, Ali’s batting form is in sharp decline, with the captain scoring only 139 runs in his last 12 away Test innings — without a single half century and with three ducks, the last one in the first innings at Old Trafford.

“After playing international cricket for 10 years, I understand when I need to take certain decisions,” Ali said. “When I bat, I’m not thinking about the captaincy, whether or not I’m out of form. And when I’m captain, I don’t think about my batting at all, whether I scored a 100 or zero.”